Bobcats beat Heat 100-87 to give Brown first win

Gerald Wallace scored 34 points and hot-shooting Charlotte beat the Miami Heat 100-87 on Saturday night, giving Bobcats coach Larry Brown his first victory in his ninth NBA head coaching job.

After a winless preseason and an ugly loss at Cleveland to open the regular season, Wallace, Jason Richardson and Emeka Okafor powered the Bobcats with an efficient, hustling performance that gave the well-traveled Brown his 1,011th career win.

Richardson added 23 points and Okafor had 18 points and 13 rebounds for Charlotte, which shot 54 percent, controlled the boards and took advantage of Dwyane Wade's off night to spoil Heat rookie coach Erik Spoelstra's 38th birthday.

Rookie Michael Beasley capped his opening week with 25 points for Miami, which couldn't build off Friday's blowout win over Sacramento. Wade, hampered by foul trouble, added 19 points on 5-of-15 shooting, while Udonis Haslem scored 16 points.

Wallace consistently scored on drives to the basket and his improved outside shot, making 11 of 16 shots.

After Miami cut a once 17-point Charlotte lead to 77-71 on Marcus Banks' 3-pointer with in the first minute of the fourth quarter, Wallace took over. He hit a 3-pointer, had a three-point play and a driving layup on the next three possessions.

Miami never threatened again, delighting a rare sellout crowd in Charlotte and managing partner Michael Jordan, who sat courtside one seat away from the end of the Bobcats bench.

It was a bench controlled by the 68-year-old Brown, in his first home game with Charlotte, in a stark contrast to the other side of the court.

While the gray-haired Hall of Famer entered with 1,010 NBA wins and 406 more in the ABA and college, the slick-haired Spoelstra had won his first NBA game a night earlier.

But the rebuilding Heat were no match, especially with Wade in foul trouble and clanging jumpers.

Before making his Charlotte debut, Brown shook up the starting lineup, placing Sean May on the inactive list. Brown has lamented May's lack of conditioning as he recovers from right knee surgery that caused him to miss all of last season.

After starting May and watching him miss all six shots in Thursday's loss to Cleveland, Brown replaced him with Jared Dudley and indicated May could be sidelined a while.

The small lineup with Dudley had a chance to be effective against the Heat, who feature one of the league's smallest frontcourts.

Rebounding well and much more efficient on offense than they've been under Brown, the Bobcats shot 60 percent in the first half. Adam Morrison's buzzer-beating 3-pointer put Charlotte ahead 52-41 at halftime.

Beasley, the No. 2 pick in the draft, shot 8-for-10 through the first three quarters, keeping the Heat within striking distance. But Charlotte overcame 21 turnovers to hang on thanks to a 41-27 rebounding edge.

Notes:@ After spending most of the previous two seasons in hidden in a luxury box, Jordan was animated on the sideline while barking at officials. ... Spoelstra before the game allowed himself to reflect on working his way from the team's video coordinator to celebrating his 38th birthday as head coach. "After working here for 13 years, it's special," Spoelstra said. "It's a tremendous honor for me." ... Spoelstra shuffled his inactive players. Shaun Livingston, working his way back from knee surgery, did not dress. G Chris Quinn was active. ... The Bobcats had only five sellouts last season.